All Quiet on the Western Front Study Guide

Chapter Summaries

All Quiet on the Western Front Summary of Chapters

Preamble

The novel is a classic tale of the kind of effects that are caused by war. People assume that if a soldier survives a war physically then mentally, they are also okay. This book works in a bid to dig deeper into the mental struggle of soldiers after the war.

Chapter 1 to 4

In the first chapter, we see how soldiers who had been on the front line now are resting .Only eight of them survived out of a staggering 150 of them. The main character we interact with in this chapter is Paul Baumer.

In the second chapter, we see Paul reminiscing about his life before the war took place. He has lost all the interest in the things which fascinated him before. These include poetry and writing. We see him realizing how the young folk is the ones who are affected worse since they have nothing to fall back to after the war. He, however, gets to appreciate the training they got from Corporal Himmelstoss. However, we see of the young recruits plotting on how the will carry out revenge on him. We are also experiencing the agony of Kemmerich who is about to die.

Since the war needs to be won, more young men are sent in to reinforce their team. One of them , Kat, fascinates Paul with his ability in convincing the strict cook to serve him more food. He is also a young man of radical ideas believing that all soldiers should be provided with the same amount of food and equal salary. In the fourth chapter, the new recruits are seen to be filled with fear when they come into actual contact with war.

Chapter 5 to 8

In the fifth chapter, we see a description of the unsanitary conditions that the recruits have to withstand. Himmelstoss also faces some punishment by being sent to the front for the harsh treatment he had subjected his recruits to. Kropp and Tjaden are there other people who face punishment for not obeying commands. We see how the war has left the place destroyed when the soldiers pass a schoolhouse. The reality of death is all over the air. When the bombs start to fall, hell breaks loose. Many soldiers die, and those remaining cannot access food. The Germans, however, retaliate on the French mercilessly. In an interesting